Protective helmets and headwear are known to protect a wearer's head from accidental trauma. For example, construction workers are often required to wear hard hats or other safety headwear due to the increased risk of falling objects in and around construction sites. Similarly, athletes are required to wear protective helmets, such as football, baseball, hockey, lacrosse, skiing, snowboarding, skydiving, and cycling helmets, to protect their heads in case of high impact collisions. These helmets are typically made of a hard and durable material designed to deflect and disperse the effects of external forces imparted thereto.
Various components of protective helmets and headwear are generally known in the industry and have been described in previous patent references. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,763,524 discloses a helmet with a faceguard, U.S. Pat. No. 6,711,751 discloses a helmet with a polycarbonate shell and foam liner, and U.S. Publication No. US 2002/0120978 discloses a helmet with a slow recovery, viscoelastic, polymeric foam liner.
In addition to the important protective characteristics of such helmets, the helmets also need to be comfortable when worn because the helmet is typically worn for extended periods of time. To accommodate people with different head sizes, protective helmets are typically manufactured in various standard sizes, such as, small, medium, large, and extra large. To further enhance the comfort, fit, and shock absorption of a helmet, some helmets also include an internal support within the interior of the helmet. The internal support is often adjustable to provide a custom fit on the wearer's head.
Adjustments to the internal support, however, can only be made from within the interior of the protective helmet. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,388 discloses an interior suspension cap or internal support mounted to and contained within a shell of a helmet. Thus, achieving a comfortable fit typically requires that the person initially try on the helmet, then remove the helmet to either increase or decrease the size of the internal support accordingly, and then put the helmet back on to see if the adjustment was proper. This usually involves several iterations until an acceptable comfort fit is achieved, and thus, can become a tedious and annoying process.
Thus, there remains a need for a protective helmet that can be easily adjusted to provide a comfort fit while the person is wearing the helmet.